Greetings Kieran,
MSN Messenger is not a replacement to Windows Messenger, it's a completely separate
application. The Outlook Smarttag in Outlook XP (2003 shouldn't have this problem) supports
Windows Messenger exclusively.
You can however, disable Windows Messenger, so it won't load with Windows. To do so, open it
up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK), click Tools, Options, Preferences tab
and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows
starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this program to run in the background' or
'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background' (depending on version). This won't remove
Windows Messenger, so features like Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing
will continue to work, but it will let it stay out of your way.
Also, do you have Norton Antivirus installed? Recent versions of Norton Antivirus added a
new "instant messaging scanning" feature, which can conflict with Messenger and cause it to
also keep starting. To stop it, open Norton Antivirus (Right-click on the Norton Antivirus
icon in the System Tray/Notification Area (by the clock), choose 'Open Norton Antivirus'),
click Options, then Instant Messenger then uncheck MSN Instant Messenger and click OK.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources -
http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
I've downloaded MSN Messenger 6.2 to use as my IM Client, but my pc won't let me get rid of
Windows Messenger, so currently when I boot up it starts MSN but when I use Outlook SmartTag
it opens windows Messenger. Can I completely take off Windows Messenger? and if so how?
